82
The next day, James was still on the lam, as was Sophie. Candy’s father was continually out with Matteo’s men looking for them. In the late hours of the night, Slade had finally convinced Candy to allow him and Gage to take her home. Isis and Sahara arrived at the pink and white, embellished Victorian-style home, and the ladies slept huddled together all night from fear and exhaustion.
Candy woke and shimmied from her bed to avoid waking her friends. She walked through the house, seeing Gage sleeping on the couch and the shower was running, showing that Slade must have already been awake.
She snuck out the patio door to her backyard and nestled into the beautiful butterfly garden outback. Candy closed her eyes, praying they would find her mother safe.
After taking a moment to calm herself, she checked her messages and texted her father. “Daddy, are you okay?”
After a long pause, he messaged back. “Fine, baby. Any word from your mother?”
“No? Have you heard anything?”
“We’re resting at Diego’s mansion. We needed to regroup and get a fresh start. Matteo has a plan. As soon as we have it worked out, I’ll send for you. No matter what happens, I hope you know how much your mother and I love you.”
“I love you too. Please be safe.”
Candy sat her phone beside her, watching the clouds passing over. She took a deep breath to calm herself, sitting in silence, hoping for a miracle.
Not realizing he had come from the house, Slade sat next to her, holding the handcuffs in his hand. He softly took her hand, and Candy looked into his eyes, confused by the look in his eyes.
He narrowed his brows, seemingly upset. Quickly, he grabbed her wrist and snapped the cuff over it, locking it in place.
Candy pulled back. “What are you doing?”
“Mine.” Unable to get out anything more, Slade looked like she had ripped his heart out.
“Slade… I can’t do this right now.”
“No. Say it. If James finds us, I will die before I allow him to take you away from me. I love you, Candy. Please. Tell me your mine.”
“We can talk about this later. Please take off the cuffs.”
“No. We will talk about this now. You left me and tried to do this on your own. Do you see all those people in your house right now? Your friends. We’re here for you. I’m here for you. I was worried sick. A million thoughts came through my mind thinking I could have lost you last night.”
“I’ll never run like that again, I promise. I’m just terrified and confused right now.”
“Are you confused about us? Because I’m not.”
“No… I’ve been holding back. I… I love you.” Candy ran her hand down his jawline as her lips quivered. “I’m afraid of losing you. I have lost everything good in my entire life. I’m afraid if you ever left me, I would end up like my mom. It would break me.”
Slade kissed away the tears that fell down her cheeks. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll always be by your side.”
Slade moved to get on his knees in front of her so he could look her in the eyes. “I need you, Candy. Don’t make me wait any longer. Tell me you’re mine.”
She leaned over, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I always have been. I love you, Slade.”
“I love you too. We are going to figure this all out. Together.”
Candy nodded, as she pulled back to look him in the eyes.
Slade looked up at the house with all his friends standing on the porch watching them. “We have an audience.”
Candy wiped her eyes and giggled. “Isn’t that your thing?”
He looked back at the house, noticing for the first time its flamingo pink color. “Is everything you own pink?”
Candy looked back at the house and laughed. “I like it.”
“It looks like a Barbie dream house.”
“Don’t hate. You’re my sexy bad-boy, Ken.”
“Oh, I wasn’t judging. I think it’s the perfect place to raise a family. Don’t you think?” Slade smiled lovingly.
Candy looked at him with a scared look written across her face. “A what?”
“I just mean… if you get married one day and have a family. It would be a great place to… you know...” Slade blushed, thinking he went too far.
Candy smiled and kissed him hard on the lips. “I love you, Slade Logan. You big sappy stud muffin.”
Gage walked over, looking at his phone. “Sorry to interrupt, but they’re expecting us at Diego’s by noon. They have a lead. They saw Sophie an hour ago south of here.”
Candy jumped to her feet, asking, “She’s alive?”
Gage nodded. “The police said she took off. They had her and she slipped down an alley.”
Slade uncuffed them and turned Candy to face him. “If you try to take off again, the next time I’m handcuffing you to me and throwing away the key. Got it?”
“Yes. I won’t leave your side. I’m sorry I scared you.”
Gage looked back at the house and chuckled. “You might want to tell him that too.”
Wraith Evans was standing next to his cousin Isis, glaring at her. Candy swallowed hard and gave Wraith a goofy grin.
Slade sucked air through his teeth with a grimace as he saw the menacing man at the top of the stairs. “Yikes. I’m not sure I can save you now, Candy. Wraith is going to kill you for taking his bike.”
Walking to Wraith to take her punishment, she stood below him on the steps, biting her lip. She knew she was in trouble and Wraith scared her senseless. She pulled the keys from her pocket, trying to seem remorseful.
“I’m sorry, Wraith. It rides nice.” She gave a hesitant half-smile and winced, expecting the worst.
The hulk of a man grumbled under his breath as he walked down the stairs to take the keys. His massive, tattooed arms bulged from the black t-shirt as he crossed them over his chest, making him even more intimidating. With a chuckle, he gave her a big bear hug. “Do that shit again, and you won’t have to worry about the mob or crazy stepdads. I’ll bury you six feet under. I’m glad you're safe, short stuff. But if you touch my bike again, you're a dead girl. Now, let’s go get your family back.”
Slade’s mouth dropped open. He couldn’t believe Wraith let her off so easily. “No fair! I took it for a ride, and you kicked my ass. I still have a scar.”
“You took it for a joy ride. Little one did it for her family. Family comes first,” Wraith grumbled, rubbing her head and rustling her hair.
Candy giggled as she hugged Wraith tight. She pulled back saying, “Let’s go finish this.”
Slade put his hand in his pocket, rubbing his thumb over a little pink heart-shaped velvet box as he watched her sweet smile. He had bought it weeks before the challenge. How he knew she would eventually be his, he didn’t know. Deep down, he had kept hope she would want him as much as he wanted her.
Slade took a deep breath, feeling his nerves take over. Looking over at his friend Colt, who was leaning against the porch railing with a smug look on his face, he could tell his friend saw right through him. Colt knew him better than anyone, and it was clear he knew what Slade was thinking.
Candy led everyone inside, and Slade lagged a little behind.
Meeting him at the top of the steps, Colt asked, “Why do you keep putting your hand in your pocket? Can’t you be near her for a second without playing pocket-pool? Damn, dude. You need a few minutes to knock one out with her before we go?”
Slade rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a dick.”
Slade looked around to make sure no one was watching and pulled the box from his pocket, concealing it from everyone.
Colt looked down, and his eyes almost popped out of his head. “Shit, bro! Is that…?”
“Shh! I bought it when we were in LA.”
Colt looked confused as he admired the ring. “LA? We haven’t been to LA since… Slade. That was over a month ago.”
“I know.” Slade slid it back in his pocket. “We were still fighting then. It was that night she got hurt in that three-way match with Sahara and Isis.”
“I thought you were upset about losing your match that night to Breaker.”
Slade shook his head no. “Seriously? I could give a shit less about that. Breaker’s a tool. I realized I was making a mistake by hurting her feelings all the time. Seeing her injured, even something small, was hard. But even harder to admit I was falling in love with her. I went to check on her the next morning, and I almost kissed her. Candy thought I was making fun of her for being hurt and —”
Colt started laughing and pushed him playfully back off the bottom step. “You said Breaker caught you with his elbow in the ring. So, that black eye was from her. You tried to kiss her, and she punched you in the face.”
Slade huffed as he stepped back up onto the porch. “Yes, asshole. She throws a mean right hook. Thanks to being the narrator of my heartache. Anyway, I went and bought the ring that day. I don’t know why I did it. She hated me. I knew somehow I was going to win her over, but I had given up until now. I love her, Colt. I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
Colt patted him on the back. “I wondered how long it would take you to get here.”
“You already figured it out, didn’t you?”
Colt put his arm around Slade’s shoulder. “You’re my best friend. It’s my job. After this is over, take her on a date; something nice. She deserves to be happy and I think you can do that for her.”
“You realize if we get married, I’m going to have to live in Barbie’s dream house, right?”
“Yep, and I will tease you relentlessly.” Colt laughed.
“Maybe I can convince her into a nice Barbie mansion upgrade.”
“Good luck. I saw the car in her garage. It’s pink too.”
Slade rubbed his hand over his face. “You have got to be kidding me. Good thing she looks good in pink.”
“You love it.”
“My favorite color, Candy pink.” Slade chuckled.
